Restructuring for Growth

The business had grown significantly from its beginnings as a UAE based entity to now include operations across the GCC and CIS regions. The organization architecture however reflected the original structure of location-based business units, that resulted from the initial approach to growth, as well as the businesses acquired over the years. While the existing structure had served the business well historically, it was counter-productive to the future growth of the business as each individual entity operated with its own historical identity, and hence the combined strength of the Group was not evident to others. The business was not leveraging its combined purchasing power, nor presenting itself externally as a large, international entity. Individual businesses were also not sharing insights and capability, with each working to develop capability outside of their core competence, but well within the expertise of another business unit.

Having been invited in as experts in business transformation, we brought the leadership team together for a strategy development session during which the above challenges were detailed and an agreement reached on the optimal structure required to change the status quo. We then worked with the HR team to create a revised business architecture and a revised branding. Thereafter clear competencies and requirements for all senior roles within the revised architecture were established for implementation via a structured approach to assess current team members and make suitable appointments to fill specific positions with the balance being catered to by external candidates. We also worked with key stakeholders in each function and operations to create revised business processes and document workflows, forms, controls, and reporting templates. The entire project was managed seamlessly, including regular updates and communication with all stakeholders – the Board, senior management as well as the employees and business partners.

The new structure created SBUs around core capabilities and allowed for the business to leverage the combined purchasing power, while establishing a cohesive and unified brand. Customers began to recognize the combined strength of the Group, and other business partners including suppliers and bankers began to acknowledge the size of the combined entity. The revised business architecture allowed each strategic business unit to grow organically and expand into new geographies. It was also the basis for attracting investors, whether banks, private equity and eventually facilitated listing in the bourse through an IPO. In the next few years, the Group saw a business transformation – delivering rapid growth while keeping overheads and costs relatively lower than in the earlier decentralised structure.